The tale of catching dreams
by Coshy
Summary: While they are resting on a little island a few months after defeating Arlong, the Strawhat pirates are offered a challenge they cannot turn down. Going to end with NaxLu, rated for later chapters
1. Everything's alright?

**The tale of catching dreams**

Disclaimer: Even if I wish I would, I do not own One Piece or its characters. All belongs to lucky Oda-sensei.

Even if this is my very first fanfic, I hope you are going to enjoy it nevertheless.

The announced pairing will appear later on, but since this is also an adventure story, the pair needs time to develop, okay? ;)

If you are going to find spelling mistakes, I allow you to keep them

No, please tell me. Since I'm actually German, my grammar and spelling will be no real pleasure, so please tell me so that I can improve

So..enough babbling, here's my first chapter.

Chapter 1: Everything's alright? 

It was a warm day on one of those spring islands located somewhere on the Grand Line.

Bright rays of the morning sun dove the whole landscape into a soft light,

giving everyone the feeling of utterly perfection.

With the dew sparkling from the grass, the picture completed.

Nothing bad could ever happen in a place like this.

Who would dare to disturb such a dream?

The most remarkable object you'd see when arriving by boat was the small cottage which throned on the giant hill facing the peaceful (and still sleeping) fishermen's village you'd be aiming at at that moment.

Now there was a light breeze blowing through its window, causing the dark hair of a young man to join the wind in its dance.

He sat on the window-sill and leaned against the wall, sighing deeply.

On his stomach rested an old-looking strawhat.

As if noticing this just in that second, he started to trace the lines on it with his middle finger while chewing on something unrecognisable.

'Wheew, it's so boring, boring boring. Why can't we just go out and do something??', he suddenly pouted.

A green-haired man sighed and cast a sideway glance at him up from his game of chess.

His head still rested on his left arm while setting his opponent mated with the other.

Without really looking at the strawhat-boy, he plainly pressed out

something like 'Man, I'm trying to concentrate, so just be quiet and chew.'

'But Zoroo, I don't want to _just_ chew, I want ADVENTURE!'

With that said, strawhat Luffy jumped up and began to punch the air around him wildly.

'Would you just shut the hell up!? I'm losing right now and I would sure as

hell not advise you to have something to do with it afterwards !', a _very very_ angered Usoppu cried out.

Luffy made a face at him.

'People, just hanging around will do nothing efficient.', Sanji muttered out matter-of-factly and then mumbled '..not that you jerks could manage something like that anyways…'

Merely a second later, the chessboard came flying through the air, just to be dodged by the cook's foot.

'You stupid idiot of a', Zoro's insult was interrupted by a loud yawn of his captain, followed by stretching and another round of chewing on that _thing._

Sanji showed the swordsman his index finger which was answered by a cocked eyebrow and a very furious expression .

Still, Zoro decided to just sit down,…having just woken up, he was way to tired for crappy stuff like that _so-called cook_.

He leaned against the back of his chair, slowly drifting away into his slumber.

The last thing he heard was the bewildered question of their marksmen.

'Guys, d'you actually reckon where Nami is?'

Her feet dangled in the mild ocean water, causing a prickling feeling

to jolt throughout her whole body.

Yet she was way too sunk in her thoughts to notice it.

Nami sat on a slim plank, her face wearing a very dreamy look.

Although she had something small enclosed in her hand, the navigator seemed

as if she couldn't care less.

Somewhere in between her eyes and her hand, her mind got lost and instead

chased after a thought in her inside.

But she didn't not know where to search first.

There were reminders from time to time, carefully spreaded throughout her

memory without any logical order. She was totally confused.

Last night, she didn't sleep well at all.

Within the last few weeks, sleep had become something bad for her since

it was always giving her past the chance of intruding her head.

But what really bothered her was the dream she had this night.

She could not connect it with anything she had ever thought or witnessed before

and had therefore no idea about what the dream meant to hint at.

In the beginning, she considered it to be an ordinary dream about her

life with _Bellemere, _since there were tangerines everywhere.

But the fruits soon started to flow through the air, forming to strange forms just

to lose shape again. Tongues ran out of them, then fingers were pointed

at Nami's little former self and laughter could be heard all over her mom's plantation.

Nami woke up startled, just to find herself in a bed with her companions

lying to her feet and mumbling senseless things into the cold air of the night.

She sighed.

Another dream like every night. Yet so different.

Sighing again, she pressed her face into the pillow, trying to get those images out of her head.

In that situation, the constant snoring of her crewmembers was a welcome noise. 

Everything was better than silence, so she imagined what their words might mean.

That night, she tried all she could not to fall asleep again.

Nevertheless, the darkness surrounding her tempted her to just lay down

and join the others in their slumber.

From her point of view, that was way too dangerous, so she quietly slipped out of bed, put on some clothes and left out of the open window.

Breathing in the fresh air outside, she could feel a burden fall from her.

Nami stretched and then began to run down into the village, stopping here

and there to cast a glance at the perfect landscape around her.

As she arrived in the center of the village, something took her breath away that most of the people wouldn't even notice.

Not because it was too small or not so important, but just because it didn't fit into

this world of utterly beauty.

The little port was built out of wood and as it seemed was allowed to

elder continuously in contrast to…everything else on this island.

The wood was muffy and rotten, every step causing.a creepy noise.

This imperfection in the world of perfection made her stand there awestruck.

And so Nami ended up where she sat, now looking into the water in a puzzled way

and observing her reflection.

_Something just isn't right with me._

With a concerned expression on his face, Sanji left the room they had

all just been inside of a second ago.

What could have caused her to go? She could've at least told someone what she's up to… 

_Hopefully, no_

'…nothing happened to her, now that we only just saved her from that Arlong guy.', Zorro said to Luffy and Usoppu while leaving the room and slamming the door shut.

The cook shot a sideways glance at him.

For the swordswaver that was almost an emotional _outburst_.

He shrugged and sighed deeply, he had some far more important things

to care about than this carrothead.

'She's probably just gone out for a stroll. You know her, something caught

her interest and with that, she left. She'll be back by noon.', Usoppu stated calmly.

'Yeah, and _because_ we know her, we go and look for her, baka. Most likely she sits in some corner defending herself for stealing from some pirate or somethin'', was the

only answer from the crew's swordsmen before he grabbed hold of Luffy's collar and

pulled him out of the cottage.

After another thoughtful glare at Zorro, he quickly followed them.

He must be seeing things that weren't there.

'Couldn't it be that she just left for eating?', the captain's naïve voice spoke out, 'since Sanji overslept, she must have been really hungry, I guess.'

'Don't talk such nonsense, Luffy, she knows exactly that she could wake

me up every time she wants for every wish she may have. Such beauty cannot…', with that,

Sanji's voice trailed off, leaving the ending of his sentence up to everyone's imagination.

The fact that his eyes took the shape of hearts didn't really help them to

keep their thoughts clean though.

As the four boys went down the path leading to the village, a sudden scream

could be heard all over the isle.

Panicked eyes met as the boys looked at each other.

That wasn't their navigator. That was a fact.

But who else would be screaming at such an _inhuman_ time of the day?

Their pace quickened rapidly as they hurried down into the village.

Whatever caused that scream to happen, they would not give it the chance to affect Nami!

With the wish to wash away her thoughts by eating breakfast, Nami stood up,

put the tiny thing she held in her hand in the side pocket of her skirt and

searched for the nearest restaurant around.

The girl soon found what she was looking for and entered a café in a neat yet narrow alley.

Her breath slowed down as she found her captain grinning in her direction.

_He's worth a nice amount of Berry though, too bad that I won't get that money._

She grinned at that thought.

Even if Nami always said that money and tangerines (and more money ;) ) were

the most important things to her, she would never ever betray one

of her friends for gaining money.

What a shame! Considering what I could buy for that amount… 

She laughed to herself and set down at a table in a corner of the building.

Men, what time is it actually? There are so many people around already..I didn't even notice the sunrise.

She faced the wooden top of the table in thought as she all of a sudden heard someone muttering in the café's entrance.

'That kid is never ever worth so much money. Look at him. He has most likely never entered a real ship.', a male voice mocked her captain, just to be followed by the giggling of some preadolescent girls.

Nami watched them closely out of the corner of her eyes.

He was just one stone throw away from getting one head shorter.

Her mood wasn't the best anyways and bashing _anyone _insultingher crew was a

convenient way of getting lost of her pent-up anger.

But she nevertheless hoped that this kid would just shut up.

Beating weak underages really was beneath her, no matter what they did.

At least that was what she thought of herself.

'Hey pretty one, mind if we join you?', the very same boy dared to ask her just a mere

second later.

She threw a dark look at him.

'What makes you think that I actually wants this?', she spat out angered.

The boy just ignored her rejection and was about to sit down when Nami made him stop.

'Don't you dare sit down or I'll break your pathetic little neck.', she threatened him in a low, deathly voice.

For a moment, he and _his girls_ just watched her in shock, but he then straightened himself.

'It seems to me that your mum wasn't capable of a ..-', he taunted.

In less than the twinkling of an eye, he was pinioned against the wall with

a knife pressed at his throat. Her chair crashed on the floor, followed by her glass that

loudly flew into flinders.

'Finish your sentence if your life isn't worth anything to you.'

It was then that his girlfriends noticed what was going on, one of them letting out an earpiercing scream.

Oh holy shit. Keep it down. I don't need anyone interfering here.

'May I ask', the boy stammered anxiously, 'why you're so mad at me? I was just meaning to be nice to you..'

Nami, what are you doing? You have to keep your head clear.

Her expression softened a little, her knife was put back in its hold

but her glance at him remained cold as ice.

'Let this be a lesson to you, boy.

Never insult a pirate captain without looking for potential crewmembers first. I am quite a nice one, though. If I were someone else, you'd already been dead.', with that, she ignored him, took her bag and searched another table to continue her former attended breakfast.

Nami even decided to pay for the table she's damaged.

She really did not had enough sleep last night.

The young boy hurried out of the shop, followed by his two girly shadows.

He breathlessly leaned against the next best wall.

'Man, that was a creepy woman. Besides, who would've guessed that such _pirates_ would be around anyways? Who does she think she is?', he began to rant.

'Shopping?', a hollow voice asked.

'Oh, whatever.'

With that, the trio left.

Luffy chuckled.

'Naaa this sounded like Nami, didn't it?'

'Sure as hell…who else could have frightened that brat like this?', Zorro smirked.

'Let's get going, people. We have to look for Nami-san.'

While Luffy already hopped away with Usoppu and Sanji following , Zorro shot a last killing glance towards the _stupid_ _blondie. _

_What's up with that guy anyways?_

'Didn't I tell you that she would just be eating. I _am_ the knowing captain after all.'

'Oh, just you shut up, baka.'

'How could Nami-swan prefer that crappy cooking here to mine?'

'Oi, Nami, did you have to scare that little kid to death?'

Nami looked up from her scrambled eggs upon hearing the familiar voices.

'Ne Zorro, at least I left it at scaring him to death, didn't I?', she smirked and

watched her whole crew entering the café and coming in her direction.

Usoppu piped up.

'You know, Nami, you could've at least told us where you were going. We thought something happened to you.'

Nami smiled warmly.

'I'm sorry, but I just didn't feel like waking you up at 1 o'clock.'

She stood up and paid for her food.

Nami silently decided _not_ to pay for the table.

Her crewmembers understood the _I-don't-want-to-talk-about-what-happened-_tone in her voice.

All except of Luffy.

'Neee Nami. What happened? Why'd you wake up that early? Have been hungry, huh?',

he asked in a childish manner, the trade-mark grin plastered on his face..

'Ano, Luffy. Don't worry about it. You wouldn't understand it anyway.', she laughed and left with the other crewmembers.

Luffy's eyes vanished under the shadow of his strawhat.

He stood there for several seconds, doing nothing but staring into space and thinking.

Yes, he was actually _thinking_.

So, I wouldn't understand, huh? 

The moment lasted for an eternity and yet just for a second.

'Hey, someone needs to pay for that stupid table!!', the owner of the café suddenly shouted.

Luffy grinned. 'Sorry, I just happen to be cash-strapped!'

And with that, he was gone.

The five of them walked in silence for several minutes, the boys all thinking about the

same but none of them daring to ask their navigator about it.

She was way too bitchy when she got annoyed.

Nami all of a sudden stopped walking and let herself fall on the grass under her feet.

The boys turned their heads and looked somewhat between curious and surprised.

'I had a bad dream.', she stated as a matter of fact.

Upon hearing that, the boys joined her on the grass, waiting for her to continue her story.

Even Zorro did not fake falling asleep so as not having to listen to what she had to say.

His curiousity got the better of him.

'But don't make fun of me afterwards. Never before did I tell everyone, so just

listen and keep your mouths shut. .._Please.'_

'Of course, Nami-san, I'd never make fun of you. And if one of those st', Sanji did not manage to finish his sentence, seeing that the back of a sword landed in his stomach.

'Cut it down, ahou.'

Usoppu and Luffy just grinned and nodded in agreement.

The girl took a deep breath.

'Yosh have you ever heard of visions?'

After about half an hour later , Nami had finished telling her friends almost all about the last weeks.

The fear. The pain. That all had come back.

Only her tears remained her secret , since she did not want to worry the others too much.

Sanji took another drag from his cigarette, while Zorro and Luffy stared

in the sky absorbed in thoughts.

'Quite something, ne', Usoppu finally broke the heavy silence.

Nami couldn't express in words how thankful she was for this, so she just

answered this with a smile.

'And do you actually have a clue what this all has to mean?', Zorro asked and

looked her straight into the eyes.

Normally Nami was used and therefore not affected by this stare, but in the moment she

just couldn't stand it and thus broke their eye contact.

'That's what depresses me so much. I have absolutely no idea.'

Luffy let out an angered sigh.

'Then let's find out!'

'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!'

Sanji let go of his cigarette, just to have a frightened Usoppu jump up and grind it.

'You could've killed us', he screamed.

Zorro smirked.

'Stupid love-cook, your goofiness is incredible.'

'Guard your tongue, bastard.'

'Oi…', Luffy tried to interfere.

'Feel my blades, blondie!'

'Never ever call me blondie again or I'll serve you as a dessert.'

Usoppu backed off to Nami as the two of them watched the scenery in shock.

They fought all the time, but Zorro never pulled his swords at Sanji.

Nor did he usually stop smoking.

Something wasn't right with them either.

_It must be something with this stupid 'perfect' island_, Nami silently thought to herself.

Zorro violently lunged at Sanji who was about to kick his head off of his shoulders.

'YAMETE YO!', Luffy ordered with undescribable force in his voice.

All four stared at him in utter shock.

'or I'll punch both of you', he continued grinning.

'Let's finally get going, we need someone who can read dreams!'

Zorro and Sanji stared at each other for a moment, then drew back and agreed.

Usoppu stood up laughing.

'Finally, my idea got accepted!' he perverted the facts.

Enthusiastically, the four men started to think about their plan.

'Ano, how d'you actually plan to find a dream reader here?', Nami broke in.

'If you don't mind, I could be of help.'

Surprised, they all turned their hands. Surprisingly, no one had sensed the man's arrival.

He was almost double the size of Sanji, completely hooded in a thick

black cape, leaving only his eyes visible for the crew.

They were blue as steel and cold as ice.

'I'm Alastair. I heard you're looking for a dream reader. Follow me then.'

Nami sweatdropped.

Luffy grinned and grimaced at the others. 'See, it _is_ easy!'

Sanji and Usoppu shrugged (even if Usoppu had a scared long upon his face,..

the others were there, so he didn't care) and followed their captain.

Zorro clasped one of his swords as a precaution and was about to head

after them when he saw Nami hesitating.

His lips turned into a small smile as he went up to her and laid one hand on her shoulder.

She looked at him with a blank expression.

He patted her shoulder and whispered 'I guess he's alright, so let's get going.'

Nami sighed and grimaced at him.

'After all, it's my dream that ought to be read, so what do you think I'm going to do?', she laughed and sped off after the others.

Zorro stood in silent for a moment, then shook his head, smirked and ran after her.

Let's hope that I'm right.


	2. Chapter 2: The city above the clouds

**The tale of catching dreams**

Chapter 2: The city above the clouds?

'Nee, nee Capeguy, where are we going?'

'I am going to offer you something.

But for that, we will just have to arrive at our destination.'

Sanji scowled at him.

_Something about this guy is just akward._

Nami elbowed him lightly in his side.

'Ne, Sanji-kun. It doesn't feel right at all, does it ?'

He nodded in agreement.

'Yet, our captain seems to miss it. Look at how he's grinning.', Usoppu spoke to

them under his breath.

Suddenly, Zorro appeared in between them.

'Don't you be such milquetoasts, everything's alright.'

Nami and Usoppu frowned at him, while Sanji completely ignored him.

She cast a glace at her captain.

_Somehow, he's acting weird…Or am I just imagining things again?_

In the meantime, the group had arrived in front of a really huge mountain.

All mouths fell open in surprise.

'How come we haven't seen this yet. We can't have overlooked it!', Usoppu stuttered.

Alastair gave him a dark look.

'What I say may be incorrect, but _normal _people would have noticed it.

This isle is not called _Sangaku no shima_ (Island of mountains) for nothing, you know', he let out something that reminded of a chuckle.

_Sangaku no ..shima?_

Nami shut her eyes close. This name reminded her of something…

But yet that was just another thought causing her head to pulse in pain.

Thoughtfully, the girl faced the mountain.

'So where is this ominous dream reader of yours?', Sanji broke her thoughts when he suddenly asked suspiciously.

They didn't know exactly how long they've already walked, but since

the sun was about to reach its zenit soon, the crew must have followed

that Alastair for more than two hours by now.

That shouldn't have been without any reason.

The man looked at him.

'I never said there would be a dream reader.'

Their eyes widenend in shock.

'Nan da tou', Sanji shouted, about to beat the hell out of that guy.

'I just said that I could be of help.'

Usoppu looked at his captain in a worried way.

'Luffy, what is this all about?'

Zorro walked up to Alastair, directly facing him.

His eyes narrowed.

'Don't panic them. Bring us there.'

All his crew except of Luffy stared at him with their mouths partly opened.

'Nnnaa, don't play games with us, Capeman. Just do what Zorro told you.'

Zorro looked at him and gave him a smirk, which Luffy answered with a big grin.

'So you saw me through, huh?' With that, Alastair turned around to face the mountain, mumbling something to himself.

Suddenly, the earth began shaking under their feet.

Nami freaked out and threw herself around her captain's neck.

The boys tried to keep their balance, with Luffy holding Nami carefully

and grinning gleefully.

'It seems that I finally get my adventure!'

'BAKA!', Usoppu screamed at him while trying all he could

not to stick to Zorro's neck to avoid falling down.

Then, the earthquake stopped abruptly.

Nami gasped and looked up from Luffy's neck into his face.

She gave him a warm smile and a 'thanks, captain'.

While the others looked at the mountain in awe, Luffy mumbled

a 'don't mention it.'

He was glad the others didn't look at him.

They would have seen his cheeks turn a deep pink.

'Luffy, mite mite, the mountain!', Nami exclaimed excitedly.

He followed her gaze and saw something very strange.

'WHEEEEW ,…SUGOOOOOI!', his mood changed immediately as he jumped up in joy and headed for the mountain.

His crew followed him willingly, not noticing that Alastair disappeared into nothing.

That was quite understandable though.

The sight the moutain offered them now was stunning.

Its shape had changed dramatically, forming a huge stairway ascending to heaven.

At least it looked as if it lead there, but the thought of it was enough

to make the crew longing to climb it.

Just until Luffy's stomach grumbled loudly.

'Aaah, hara heta!'

Sanji tilted his head.

'I'll cook you something very delicious once we managed to find this dream reader, okay?

But right now, we should leave no stone unturned to help Nami-san.'

'That's how it is. And we can't just depend on love-cook, we would end up lost.

So just forget your stomach once.'

Sanji sneered at him but otherwise ignored Zorro.

That made the swordsman even angrier than his usual insults. He just couldn't handle indifference.

Usoppu made a step towards the stair.

'Let's go, I'm curious what's at the end of this'

'Yoooosh'

And with that, they started to climb up.

_Usoppu is willing to go on adventure. Sanji and Zorro stopped quarelling._

…

_Luffy forgot that he's hungry._

Something gave Nami a spine-chilling feeling.

The rise was an easy affair for the five of them.

They had gone through so much trouble, what a minor problem

was a giant _stairway to heaven_ compared to that?

As they reached the top of the mountain, their jaws dropped in awe.

In front of them lay a huge town with people hurrying everywhere and

ships anchoring in the harbor.

'Wait a second…ships? In heaven? On a mountain? Which had just formed to a stairway?

I must be dreaming again.', Nami sighed out in desperation.

'Nope, that's real.', Sanji stammered.

Luffy grinned at his comrades.

'Guess what? I'm sure there's a dream reader in a town like this.'

And with that, he ran into the town hootingly.

'It can't be helped.', Zorro stated.

They shrugged and then made their way into town, too.

'Oh Usoppu, what are we getting ourselves into?', Nami whispered only for him to hear.

'I don't know, but I guess it will be quite a fly.'

Nami furrowed her brow but nevertheless followed her friends.

The four soon caught up with Luffy. It was safer not to let him alone in a foreign town.

He could do quite a lot to get them all into trouble.

As they walked past a tavern, some men in front of it whistled loudly

for getting Nami's attention.

She smiled proudly. She just loves getting attention.

But for some reason, the whistling abruptly stopped. Nami peeked at the

tavern to look what had changend their minds all of a sudden.

_Fists. Swords. Kicks. Bombs._

That changed their minds.

'Guys, since when are you so over-protective?', she protested loudly, in spite of being _their _navigator, Nami was a girl and therefore wanted to have fun.

'They had dirty thoughts. You are very pooped. We didn't like the overall picture of it.'

For some reason, Luffy looked quite angered.

So did the others.

'I guess I can't change it, huh? So come on, they won't do any

harm any longer. At least not to me…' , suddenly her eyes started to shine brightly as a thought crossed her mind,

'..I'll be back soon, I just remembered somethin', hehe. Just wait for me, will you?'

Heading off for some unknown destination, Nami left the boys behind without

a chance for them to protest.

Zorro took a deep breath.

'If I wouldn't know better, I'd say she _now_ wants to retaliate.'

_What the hell was that just now? What happened to those guys?_

As they bashed those men in front of the tavern, a thought crossed her mind.

She always bought new clothes for her when they arrived in a big town like this.

Even though they were here to hunt down the meaning of her dreams,

she would be able to go shopping.

That'd make her happy.

And happiness is known to be a good help against nightmares, isn't it?

She smirked slyly.

The clothes she was going to buy would make their jaws drop.

_I wouldn't blame them for whistling at me. _

Nami giggled at the thought.

She would let them pay back for treating her as if she

was their property to watch upon.

Luffy and the others sat on the ground cross-legged.

'What's her problem anyways? These guys weren't even her type!', pouted Usoppu.

Sanji and Zorro smirked at that comment.

'What if she just wants some attention to her looks?', Luffy asked them seriously.

'No way! Why would she want such bastards to comment on her?', Sanji questioned

his captain's thoughts angrily.

Luffy lowered his head in thought.

'Maybe because we don't?'

It was perfect.

_You look so damn hot, sweetie, _Nami commented on herself in front

of the mirror with a big grin.

_If that's not going to get them, nothing will._

She wore a clinging white dress with a wild pattern of black bands

on it and a plungling neckline only revealing enough skin to make men long for more.

On top of that, she wore a hat of a light pink, which was a mixture of a cowboy hat and Luffy's straw hat. Since she knotted one side of the dress almost up to her hip to reveal more skin, one could see that she had a slim

holder for her fighting stick wrapped around her thigh, gently tracing her curves.

A pink belt matching to her hat was noosed around her hip, holding quite a big gun she also bought in town.

When trying to finally look like a real pirate, Nami just _must_ include a cool gun in that outfit.

_Together with my tattoo, I look rather like a bounty hunter than a pirate, though.._

She shrugged.

_I'm hot nevertheless._

She smiled and left the shop for searching her friends.

As she walked around the town, every male inhabitant bluntly

stared at her with wide eyes.

She smirked.

_I guess I succeeded. _

Then she spotted them, sitting exactly where she had told them to stay.

'Oi guys, now I don't look like I needed protection any longer, do I?'

The boys turned around surprised.

And Nami was right.

Their jaws really dropped.

She smirked.

'Didn't I tell you she'd do that?!', Zorro whispered to his friends.

As she cast a sideways glance at her captain, Nami saw Luffy shake his head

violently as to keep his head clean.

She furrowed her brows.

Usoppu cleared his throat.

'Now that you're…back again, why don't we find out what's up with this town?

Remember wanting to catch dreams??'

He was right. They really needed to find out how this town could exist here the way it did.

And why no one in the fishermen's village considered it as important enough to tell them.

The crew walked past several shops and houses without finding someone who seemed to be capable of actually explaining the whole situation.

Several men gaped at Nami, but in this outfit no one dared whistling.

Yet, her four comrades didn't like all these blunt men.

Luffy got an idea.

'By the way Nami, you look damn hot.'

The world stood still for a second.

And for another second.

Nami just looked at him in shock, not able to say a single word.

Sanji, Zorro and Usoppu however watched him with blank expressions until remembering what he told them earlier.

'_What if she just wants some attention to her looks?'_

Luffy laughed hard.

'See guys, now she doesn't need those men staring and commenting.'

Nami's eyes narrowed and her mouth curled up in an angry expression.

The stroke on Luffy's head sent stars flying around him.

'Don't you ever dare doing such a thing again, BAKA!'

She stomped down the street.

'What did I do wrong ?'

Luffy sounded earnestly surprised by her outburst.

'Nothing, Luffy, nothing.', Sanji laughed and followed Nami.

'Women', Zorro sneered and hurried after them with

Usoppu and a still confused Luffy.

'And you really don't know what I'm talking about?'

Nami's taken aback voice made the others prick up their ears.

'No sorry, I really have no clue….You may want to attend a doctor?'

The girl shot a killing glance at him, furrowed her brows

once again and returned to her friends.

'That guy was no help at all. Imagine what he told me!'

They gave her puzzled looks.

'He said that there was no mountain here on this island. A paradoxon considering its name…

and the fact that we **climbed up** that fucking mountain. Wrghhh..', she screamed angrily

and stamped her foot on the ground.

'What does that mean,..no mountain?', Sanji asked doubtfully.

'Nami took a deep breath and then answered.

' He told me that this is the only place with population around here. Never has there been neither a mountain nor a fishermen's village on this island.'

The next moment was deathly silent.


	3. Chapter 3

**The tale of catching dreams**

Chapter 3

A/N: Usual disclaimer '

The akward silence lasted for another moment.

Nami was glared at by four pairs of shocked eyes.

'Could you _please_ repeat that?!', Usoppu demanded with an angry voice.

'It's not my fault, dummy!', she fought back.

'That won't bring us any further guys!', Sanji tried to settle the conflict. He then sat down on the ground carelessly and sighed.

'Everything just sucks...'

„C'mon, let's do something. All. Will. Be. Fine.'

Luffy grinned broadly on saying this, carefully pronouncing every single word.

Looking around the place, he suddenly jumped up and pointed at an image hanging at some restaurant. 'Nani, naaaani?'

He joyfully ran over to where he'd pointed.

Within that action, he punched Zoro at the side of his head.

'Oi, oi, captain. Whatch what you're doin'', he barked and furrowed his brows in anger.

_What's he up to anyways? Being so happy in times like this?_

He looked at their navigator who returned his glare.

She seemed to be thinking the same.

'Nee, nee, minna, look what I've found!...ADVENTURE!!', Luffy exclaimed as he returned.

He was jumping from one foot to another showing them the poster he'd just found by accident.

All four heads were raised curiously, more or less expecting nothing interesting in their captain's hand.

'Eto...EEEEEEH?', Nami's eyes went huge as she began to read out loud for the others.

'..the greatest and most glorious competition ever?'

'Isn't that great?', Luffy asked happily. His grin grew even wider than before.

'We're just going to win this thing and Nami will be able to dream again, ne?'

Nami looked at him warmly yet desperately and sighed.

She already knew that this jerk would participate anyways, no matter what the crew's decision might be.

There was no point in neglecting his 'offer'.

'Oi, Luffy, what's the prize?', Sanji questioned him after a moment of pure silence.

He now wasn't caring to hide his affection for the competition. He was a _real_ man after all.

Usoppu snatched the paper away from Luffy and searched for the interesting part of the whole event.

His eyes widened. 'Na..na..naaaaniiii?'

Usoppu's stammering caused Nami's stomach into knots while Zoro just grunted, causing Luffy to jump around even happier.

'Read it out already', Sanji demanded.

The marksmen nodded shakily.

'The winner will be you? Then the prize is literally what you would never dare to wish. If you should manage to succeed, one of thy wish shall be granted. No matter what that might be.'

All looked at him with wide eyes, except of Luffy who was now even prouder of having found that big opportunity. Then everyone focussed on Nami who blushed evidently.

'What it is?'

Her friends stood up without a word, making themselves ready to leave the city.

'Oi I asked a question, you jerks?'

'Well, honey-cake (sideway glace from Zoro), considering that there is a way

to free you from your nightmares, what in the world could keep your family from

going it till the end?', Sanji asked her gently and offered her a helping hand to stand up.

'What dear lovey-dovey honey-cook wanted to express was that we're going to win this damn competition and let you wish whatever you wanna call it.'

While the two fighters broke out into a loud fight, Nami began to smile warmly and nodded at Luffy and Usoppu.

'Yosh, let's go'

After a while of walking, they finally arrived at the sign-in bureau. Without knocking, they stormed in, Luffy heading there first.

'Nee, lady, we want to participate in this competition.'

The woman in charge of the job first looked astonished but quickly regained her compositure.

Sanji tried to his disgust.

The woman was, politely expressed, far away from his female ideal.

'Participation is allowed for groups of three only. Other crewmembers will get a...well..

different task to fulfill meanwhile. If that's no problem for you, there is nothing in your way.

Luffy quickly took Nami and Zoro's hands and raised both of them.

'We gonna do it!'


End file.
